After 100 days in quarantine and 37,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases, the National Capital Region will remain under general community quarantine (GCQ).

During his public address on June 30, President Rodrigo Duterte approved the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases’ recommendation to also place Benguet, Cavite, Rizal, Lapu-Lapu City, Mandaue City, Leyte, Ormoc and Southern Leyte under GCQ.

In response to the rising number of cases in Cebu City, the Queen City of the South will remain under enhanced community quarantine. Talisay City, Minglanilla and Consolacion, however, have been placed under GCQ. The rest of the country has been placed under modified general community quarantine (MGCQ).

Despite retaining less stringent quarantine measures, President Duterte still urged people to stay at home and continue practicing social distancing to prevent the further spread of the virus.

“Ang hinihingi lang namin is buhayin mo sarili mo. At ikaw lang ang makagawa niyan. Buhayin mo ang sarili mo at huwag mong idamay ang mga kapwa tao mo. Because if you go out, there’s a chance that you get the COVID and then infect somebody else.”

Before the anticipated announcement, World Health Organization Philippine acting representative to the Philippines Rabindra Abeyasinghe said Metro Manila doesn’t need to be reverted to stricter quarantine protocols. Rather, localized lockdowns should be implemented in areas with high number of cases, something that’s already been done by the IATF.

The team of researchers from the University of the Philippines, who initially predicted that by June 30 the number of cases in the country will hit 40,000 released a new study Monday, June 29. In it, using the current reproduction rate, they see the current 37,000 cases almost doubling to 60,000 by July 31.

As of writing, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases is at over 37,000 with 1,266 deaths and over 10,000 recoveries.

Header photo screengrabbed from the Presidential Communications Operations Office

Get more stories like this by subscribing to our weekly newsletter here.

That 40k COVID-19 cases prediction we just ‘beat’? It might go up to 60k come July 30, says UP

What’s worse than gov’t’s COVID-19 program? Filipinos’ non-compliance, says Sotto